Five Minutes explores five minutes of a life in one hundred words. Five minutes is edited by Susanna Baird, with editorial support from managing editor Maria s. picone, newsletter editor kate meen, and founding reader bobbi lerman, plus our rotating team of guest readers, who you can meet in the latest newsletteR. Five Minutes was founded in October 2020, with the Salem (Mass.)-based writing group Carrot Cake Writers supplying the journal’s first pieces. We’d love to read your five. Submit here

Male Gaze

Pedro Pascal is the hottest person ever, she says. I wonder if it’s his beard. Or maybe his eyes. She’s always wanted to be lost in someone’s eyes. She squeezes my cheeks and turns me to face her. I close my eyes, press my right hand on my chest, try counting my heartbeat. How does one do that? Thud-thud-thud it goes and I lose count. She squeezes my cheeks harder and I re-open my eyes. Pedro, she whispers. I smile and sigh, waiting for our eyes to meet. She is looking at the ceiling. Orgasms make you do weird things.

Devarya Singhania (he/him) is a writer from India. They are probably doomscrolling as you read this. www.devaryasinghania.com

For a Decade